Mock Interview with Harry Truman
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- Category: History: World Wars
- Date Submitted: 10/14/2016 07:24 PM
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Part A – Mock Interview
Interviewee: President Harry Truman
Date of Interview 19th August 1945
On August 6 and 9 the United States of America shocked the world by the use of a weapon that detonated and killed a rounding of 140,000 people in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How did you come across the decision of using the atomic bomb?
Just one month before the Trinity Test explosion, the service Secretaries and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had laid in front of me all of their detailed plans for the defeat of Japan before me for approval. The landing was to be accomplished in the fall of 1945 on the island of Kyushu. The first landing was to be then followed roughly 4 months later by another great invasion. This was a formidable conception and all of us realised that the fighting would be fierce and result in heavy losses. My advisory committee recommended that the bomb should be used against the enemy as soon as it was produced. They also recommended that it should be used without specific warning and against a target that would clearly show its devastating power. Of course, I had realised that the explosion would inflict damage beyond our imagination but the scientific advisers also reported that the weapon would be likely to bring the war to an end.
Mr. President, did you consider any other alternatives before that?
Most definitely, early summer of 1945, I think I am right to say that the Japanese leaders knew they could not win. However, they fought on. The government was now looking for an option that would convince Japan to quit this war. There were several considered routes: 1) intensifying the already heavy bombing of Japanese cities; 2) waiting for the Soviets to join the war against Japan; 3) allowing Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, to remain on his throne; and 4) invading Japan. The first 3 options all held serious and military, political and diplomatic risks for our government. The last option would certainly be costly in American...
Interviewee: President Harry Truman
Date of Interview 19th August 1945
On August 6 and 9 the United States of America shocked the world by the use of a weapon that detonated and killed a rounding of 140,000 people in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How did you come across the decision of using the atomic bomb?
Just one month before the Trinity Test explosion, the service Secretaries and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had laid in front of me all of their detailed plans for the defeat of Japan before me for approval. The landing was to be accomplished in the fall of 1945 on the island of Kyushu. The first landing was to be then followed roughly 4 months later by another great invasion. This was a formidable conception and all of us realised that the fighting would be fierce and result in heavy losses. My advisory committee recommended that the bomb should be used against the enemy as soon as it was produced. They also recommended that it should be used without specific warning and against a target that would clearly show its devastating power. Of course, I had realised that the explosion would inflict damage beyond our imagination but the scientific advisers also reported that the weapon would be likely to bring the war to an end.
Mr. President, did you consider any other alternatives before that?
Most definitely, early summer of 1945, I think I am right to say that the Japanese leaders knew they could not win. However, they fought on. The government was now looking for an option that would convince Japan to quit this war. There were several considered routes: 1) intensifying the already heavy bombing of Japanese cities; 2) waiting for the Soviets to join the war against Japan; 3) allowing Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, to remain on his throne; and 4) invading Japan. The first 3 options all held serious and military, political and diplomatic risks for our government. The last option would certainly be costly in American...